Continental participation can enhance domestic game
AT A TIME when local teams have shown a worrying, unenthusiastic attitude towards continental inter-club competitions, Black Leopards’ decision to participate in the African Confederation Cup should be applauded.
It is a brave decision to start with, given that Leopards have plunged to last place in the Absa Premiership following their midweek defeat to Orlando Pirates.
The Limpopo side are tied on 10 points with Jomo Cosmos, but the gap could widen if Cosmos beat Mamelodi Sundowns tomorrow, while Leopards are engaged in a continental first-leg battle against the wonderfully-named Zimbabwean club, Motor Action, this afternoon.
Lidoda Duvha will play catch up on Wednesday, when they host Bloemfontein Celtic, completing a haul of three matches in a week, and four in 10 days when they travel to Golden Arrows next weekend. So if a team with resources as limited as Leopards’, and in such dire straits, can afford to compete in continental competitions, there shouldn’t be a plausible excuse for SA teams to fail to enter.
Yet evidence from recent times shows a succession of Premiership sides, some of them with so much financial muscle that they can afford to purchase some of their opponents on the continent, have treated Caf competitions with absolute disdain in preference of domestic success.
Probably the worst kind of contempt meted out to continental ties was seen from both Ajax Cape Town and Supersport United a few seasons ago. As they battled for the championship in a neck-andneck race with the Tshwane side in 2007/08, Ajax decided to neglect that season’s Confederation Cup at the preliminary stages.
In their first game, they had pummelled Anse Reunion, of the Seychelles, 5-1 on aggregate. They faced Mt Cameroon in the following match, impressively beating them 5-1 in the first leg and, assuming the tie had already been won, the Urban Warriors sent a weakened side to Cameroon for the second leg. Not surprisingly, that Ajax C-team lost 5-0, allowing Mt Cameroon to progress.
Meanwhile, the stars that Ajax rested in anticipation of the final weekend of Premiership games, where the Cape Town side stood to clinch the championship, could not help them attain that goal. Supersport won the title and, in the end, Ajax’s gamble left them empty handed with neither a championship they had so been yearning for, nor an historic place in the Confederation Cup knockout phase, which clearly was not their priority.
The following season, it was Supersport’s turn to show the Caf Champions League the middle finger, when they mysteriously lost to Ugandan club, Kampala City Council.
Defeat in that tie, we were told, was happily welcomed by the United top brass, as they could now focus on the championship. And they did win it that season but, again, SA football was not helped one bit. Supersport and Ajax may be the most recent examples of SA teams getting their priorities wrong, but they are by no means the only culprits. When Moroka Swallows were champions of the Nedbank Cup in 2009, they flatly refused to entertain any thoughts of entering the Confederation Cup, citing “exorbitant costs”.
It is this manner of thinking which will not help SA football, not least our national teams, in any way. Participation in continental tournaments can only enhance the domestic game, and the costs card doesn’t suffice when teams from poorer countries can afford to enter every year.
Leopards do have the benefit of a financial backup from the Premier Soccer League, which contributes R1-million to their travel expenses, but even if that wasn’t the case, there shouldn’t be reason to shun the competition. SA teams can prove their real mettle by conquering the continent, rather than give half-hearted attempts, or worse, no-shows. Leopards may well get relegated come May, but there’s no doubt the experience they’ll get from their continental sojourn is invaluable.
@Nkareng